Electronics manuacturers have started a welcome trend of better products at lower prices, and nowhere is that more true than with digital cameras. Take, for instance, the 14.1-megapixel General Electric J1470S: It packs 7x zoom, impressive image quality and performance, 720p HD video recording, and a number of cool extras, and costs just $119.99 (direct). There are some sacrifices that come with such an inexpensive camera, and in this case, they're mostly aesthetic ones. It's not quite as good as our Editors' Choice for budget digital cameras, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3 ($129.99, 4 stars), but overall, the J1470S is an impressive camera for snapshooters on a shoestring budget.

DesignThe J1470S is, well, boring looking. It's a simple rectangle with curved edges, available in black, silver or red (my test unit was silver). It measures 2.2 by 3.8 by 0.8 inches (HWD), and weighs 5.3 ounces—small and light, but not as slight as the Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 ($99.99, 2.5 stars), which weighs just 3.5 ounces.

On the front, other than the collection of logos and stickers, are the camera’s lens and flash. The top panel houses a shutter button and zoom trigger, along with the Power button and a dedicated button for switching into video recording mode. The sides are bare, save for the flip-out USB arm that allows you to charge the J1470S and connect it to your computer at the same time. I always loved the flip-out arm on Flip video cameras, and it’s a nice addition here, since you’ll never need extra cables for charging or syncing.

Around back, in addition to the standard button set—five-way directional pad, Menu and Playback buttons—is a 3-inch LCD, a standard size for compact cameras, but large for one with this price. The Kodak EasyShare Mini only offers 2.5 inches of display space, and the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS ($149.99, 4 stars) has a 2.7-inch screen. The J1470S’ display is filled with 230,400 dots, which is average for an inexpensive point-and-shoot. I found the display to be a little dim, but good enough for shooting and viewing photos, even outdoors.

The lens offers 7x optical zoom, extending from 32.9-230.3 (35mm equivalent) with corresponding aperture of f/3.4-5.7. The lower number means the J1470S isn’t the best choice for wide landscapes, and you might have trouble cramming all your friends into the shot. On the other hand, the camera zooms in even more than some other 7x lenses, and offers a lot more zoom than many compact cameras. The average in this class is 3-5x.

The user experience you get with the J1470S is a good one with few options, but all are easy to access. Most menus are just light text on a dark background, but because options like ISO sensitivity, white balance, exposure, and photo size are all cleverly placed a click or two away, you won’t spend much time fumbling through menus. If you want to do much more than than shoot in auto mode or scene modes, though, the J1470S probably isn't powerful enough for you. But again, it's a $120 camera.

PerformanceKeeping that price in mind, performance is impressive. The camera takes 2.9 seconds to boot up and capture a photo, and needs 3.2 seconds of recycle time between shots. You won’t get much better without paying more. The Editors' Choice Panasonic DMC-S3 did do slightly better, with 1.9 seconds to boot and shoot and 1.8 between shots. The Canon A3000 boots up quickly, in 2.1 seconds, but needs a lengthy 4.4 seconds between shots. The J1470S scored 0.4 second on the shutter lag test, which is average.

In the PCMag Labs, we use the Imatest suite to objectively measure image quality. We ran the J1470S through two tests, one measuring image sharpness and one testing the camera’s low-light shooting abilities. The sharpness test, which measures 50 spots across an image to determine lines per picture height, scored the J1470S at 1,711 lines. That’s a decent result, unspectacular, but average for a compact camera. The Canon A3000 IS achieved an even-better 2,173, and the Panasonic S3 scored a little lower at 1,614.

If you want to shoot images in low light without the flash, you’ll need to crank up your camera’s ISO sensitivity, which introduces noise into images. We tested the J1470S at various sensitivities, and found that the camera kept noise under 1.5 percent (the threshold at which noise becomes visible) up to ISO 800. That, like the J1470S’ sharpness score, is good but not great; it’s bested by the Kodak EasyShare Mini, which can shoot up to ISO 1000, but better than the Canon A3000, which is over 1.5 percent at ISO 800.

It’s very rare for a camera this inexpensive to offer HD video recording, so 720p resolution is a bonus here. Footage looked good in my tests, and you can even zoom and autofocus while recording—two other features you won’t often find in this price range. You will hear some noise as you do either, however. Videos are recorded as .MOV files, which can be natively uploaded to Facebook or YouTube. The camera supports SD and SDHC cards, up to 32GB.

Thanks to longer-than-average zoom lens, HD video support, and a $120 price tag, the General Electric J1470S is a top-notch budget choice. None of its test scores jump off the page, but it’s a solid performer across the board, with a spec sheet that’s heartier than many other compact cameras. For the price, this camera's tough to beat.